by Elinor Jeynes
For centuries marriage has been a key life milestone for millions of people, it was considered a necessary framework to have children within and strengthened family bonds. However social attitudes towards marriage have changed dramatically in recent years. Many more couples are choosing to cohabit because they don’t consider getting married to be important to them and their relationship.
The idea of marriage predates recorded history, for thousands of years family’s have been forming alliances. Throughout history and even today families arranged marriages for couples, these were and some are still not based on love but for economic liaisons and strategic alliances that benefited the families involved. Marriage s main purpose was to bind women to men and by doing this guarantee that a man ’s child was truly his biological heir. In many early cultures, men could easily end a marriage or take another wife if a woman was infertile, now this would be seen as unacceptable. Also marriages were often within families, in the Bible, Isaac and Jacob married cousins and Abraham married his half-sister.
Monogamy seems the key to marriage now whereas in the past polygamy was common. Again within the Bible there are instances of powerful figures having between two and a thousand wives. However as the Roman Catholic Church started to become more powerful it became necessary to have the blessing of a priest for the marriage to be legally recognised and by the 8th century marriage became a sacrament. With marriage now being significant within the church this improved marriage for women as divorce was not encouraged or even possible and men were encouraged to remain faithful.
Many people still view marriage as important because it shows commitment between two people and this prevents temptation. People believe that if the bond between two people is formed legally they become soulmates and this union represents the union between God and his church. Marriage can also help parenting, around 40% of all children are currently growing up in a home without a father and some people believe that single parent families make it harder for children to develop well. Obviously marriage is a key part of religion. For example, in Islam marriage is known as nikah it is significant for Muslims because it is considered a religious duty and provides a framework for couple to have children and raise them up in Islam. Marriage shows commitment and stops casual sex.
However many people including members of younger generations believe that marriage is not as important as is often implied. Marriage is still popular in the UK although in 1973, 400,000 marriages happened in England and Wales whereas in 2012 there were 262,000 marriages. Many couples believe they don’t need marriage to express the love between them and it can often lead to divorce which is a complex and tiring process which can have bad effects on the mental health of the couple and their children’s lives. Marriage also requires a wedding ceremony and with the average wedding in the UK costing around £15,000 it is no wonder that many people don’t want to get married as they would rather spend this money on something they see more worthwhile.
Although marriage was significant in the past due to strategic alliances formed within different powerful families it could be argued that now when people normally marry due to love marriage is no longer relevant. Why do people who have spent ten years together and are clearly in love need to get married to show their commitment? Marriage is expensive and viewed by more and more people an unnecessary waste of money.
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| Ancient Sumerian depiction of the marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid |
For centuries marriage has been a key life milestone for millions of people, it was considered a necessary framework to have children within and strengthened family bonds. However social attitudes towards marriage have changed dramatically in recent years. Many more couples are choosing to cohabit because they don’t consider getting married to be important to them and their relationship.
The idea of marriage predates recorded history, for thousands of years family’s have been forming alliances. Throughout history and even today families arranged marriages for couples, these were and some are still not based on love but for economic liaisons and strategic alliances that benefited the families involved. Marriage s main purpose was to bind women to men and by doing this guarantee that a man ’s child was truly his biological heir. In many early cultures, men could easily end a marriage or take another wife if a woman was infertile, now this would be seen as unacceptable. Also marriages were often within families, in the Bible, Isaac and Jacob married cousins and Abraham married his half-sister.
Monogamy seems the key to marriage now whereas in the past polygamy was common. Again within the Bible there are instances of powerful figures having between two and a thousand wives. However as the Roman Catholic Church started to become more powerful it became necessary to have the blessing of a priest for the marriage to be legally recognised and by the 8th century marriage became a sacrament. With marriage now being significant within the church this improved marriage for women as divorce was not encouraged or even possible and men were encouraged to remain faithful.
Many people still view marriage as important because it shows commitment between two people and this prevents temptation. People believe that if the bond between two people is formed legally they become soulmates and this union represents the union between God and his church. Marriage can also help parenting, around 40% of all children are currently growing up in a home without a father and some people believe that single parent families make it harder for children to develop well. Obviously marriage is a key part of religion. For example, in Islam marriage is known as nikah it is significant for Muslims because it is considered a religious duty and provides a framework for couple to have children and raise them up in Islam. Marriage shows commitment and stops casual sex.
However many people including members of younger generations believe that marriage is not as important as is often implied. Marriage is still popular in the UK although in 1973, 400,000 marriages happened in England and Wales whereas in 2012 there were 262,000 marriages. Many couples believe they don’t need marriage to express the love between them and it can often lead to divorce which is a complex and tiring process which can have bad effects on the mental health of the couple and their children’s lives. Marriage also requires a wedding ceremony and with the average wedding in the UK costing around £15,000 it is no wonder that many people don’t want to get married as they would rather spend this money on something they see more worthwhile.
Although marriage was significant in the past due to strategic alliances formed within different powerful families it could be argued that now when people normally marry due to love marriage is no longer relevant. Why do people who have spent ten years together and are clearly in love need to get married to show their commitment? Marriage is expensive and viewed by more and more people an unnecessary waste of money.
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